


Payback is a ....

by katbux



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Just Deserts, M/M, Nightmares, Not A Fix-It, Not Wanda Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Punishment, Revenge, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 17:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16560107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katbux/pseuds/katbux
Summary: Imagine a world where Tony Stark was not alone to deal with his demons, imagine a world where he has someone to avenge him - Sorcerer Supreme and his Blanket of death.





	Payback is a ....

_Steve’s room, Wakanda_

Steve was ripped from his peaceful sleep by a terrified scream coming from the direction of Wanda’s room. All the Avengers staying at Wakanda slept near each other, feeling much safer in the presence of their team and family. It helped, being around people who understood, around people who had their own problems and did not judge too quickly. They were there for each other and he could already hear others scrambling from their rooms, rushing to help the distressed girl, bangs and curses sounding from every direction.

Steve coils his muscles and jumps from the bed to join them against the unknown threat, only to fall and hit himself on the edge of it. His muscles constrict painfully, refusing to obey his mind’s commands. He is little disoriented from the fall, something like this never happened before, his body is a masterpiece, the most finely tuned weapon he has. But the body feels... different now, almost like… frantic palms run over chest, belly, arms encountering sharp edges and dips where should be curved strong muscles and Steve starts to panic just a bit, but he still does not quite believe it, it’s not true, it can’t be true, but the curtains are pulled back and in the pale light of wakandan moon he sees the nightmare of his past, his own brand of personal hell. Gone are the muscles and agility of his superserum enhanced body, gone is his impeccable eyesight and strong lungs, the Steve Rogers sitting on the floor now was gone for more than 70 years, small and frail as a little bird and weak as a kitten, the one everyone mocked, everyone tormented.

He can feel his head spinning, breathing is getting sharper and quicker, with the last ounce of strength reaches the button next to his bed, the button that would signal to guards that something is wrong, that he needs help. He barely manages to press it when he collapses, panicked hands grasping his throat, scratching the soft skin there. There are black spots in his vision and the room swims around him until the darkness swallows him and he knows no more.

 

_Nathasha’s room, Wakanda_

Nathasha is a spy, she was since she was a child and therefore she never sleeps too deep. She was taught that lesson the hard way and the brutal techniques of the Red Room tend to stick to one for the rest of their life. So she opens both her eyes the moment Wanda screams, their rooms are next to each other, she demanded it as she was slowly working on making the girl see her as a friend, maybe a big sister. The girl is powerful, she would be a good ally and if she thought of Tasha as a family she could be easily manipulated the way the assassin needed her.

Spy’s body is a finely trained weapon, taught to react without a conscious thought and Natasha’s movements are equally graceful and efficient when she grabs the knife hidden underneath her pillow and tries to jump out of the bed.

In her mind she can feel her legs moving, knees bending and muscles going taunt, but in reality nothing happened, he legs stay unmoving, laying limply on the bed. She takes the knife and slices her thigh, just a shallow cut, nothing that could be used as a disadvantage in a battle, but she realizes with growing horror, that she does not feel a thing, it is as if her legs are not even there.

 

_Wanda’s Room, Wakanda_

She knows she must be dreaming, there is no way this place is real. It is a white plane stretching into the distance full of clouds of red mist rolling around, she can hear whispering voices, like if thousands of people were hidden inside the red clouds . She walks forward, something urging her on until she stands in front of a wall of a red mist, there is no way forward and when she turns to go back, the only thing she sees is another red wall, the mist closed around her creating a small circle of space where she stands. The whispering is almost frantic now, she listens in but she does not recognize the words, they are in languages she knows not.

The feeling of being closed in is getting too much, her heart is racing and she is frantically trying to find a way out, turning and turning in the ever shrinking circle.

She starts to scream when she realizes what the mist truly is - blood. It starts to cover her, clinging to her skin and hair, flowing into her mouth with every panicked breath. The voices around her reach a new crescendo when she sees them for the first time, figures are moving in the fog, nearing her. She recognizes them, saw them in the reports of S.H.I.E.L.D. reports, those are the victims of Hulk from Johannesburg, their faces full of abrasions and gashes, empty eyes watching her accusingly as they emerge from the blood mist one by one. They form a circle around her, there are thousands of them, all staring, all whispering.

“Why are you here? What do you want from me?!” she breaks and starts to yell. “It was not me who killed you, it was that green monster! Leave me alone! Leave!” she tries to shove the one standing in front of her, a young girl, not older than her, but it is as if she was trying to push away a concrete wall.

The whispering stops at her action, there is some movement to her left and she quickly turns that way, she tries again to call upon her powers, with no avail. The crowd of dead opens like a sea and allows three figures to walk through - two adults holding a child in their arms. She recognizes them instantly and a tortured sound rips from her mouth for those are her parents and they are holding her Pietro, her little brother she lost so recently.

“Mom, Dad! Help me please!”

Her mother’s empty eyes turn to her “How could you! This is all your fault! All these people! Pietro! Your own brother! All dead because of you!”

Her father speaks next “We’re ashamed of you. You’re not our daughter!”

She falls to the ground and pulls her legs towards her chest, desperately trying to hide her face between her knees, hands pressed firmly against the ears and despite that she can still hear him, Pietro, no more than 5 years old saying “I hate you”

 

_Rouge Avengers Common room, Wakanda_

T'challa is standing in the middle of the room looking at the once heroes, currently in different states of hysteria sitting in front of him. He does not know what happened, all he knows that they’ve got a distress signal from Cap’s room and rushed into their wing only to find them like this in their rooms. He had them all gathered together, but still did not know what happened.

There was no breach to the security, nothing suspicious on the camera’s feed, if he did not see the physical proof himself, he might think they’re lying, but he cannot disregard what he sees:

\- Natasha Romanoff - paralyzed from waist down  
\- Sam Wilson - suddenly blind  
\- Clint Barton - mute  
\- Steve Rogers - returned to his pre-serum state  
\- Scott Lang - not visible harm, but his agitated pacing and tortured expression speaks of wounds that are on the inside  
\- Wanda Maximoff - no visible harm, but sobbing curled upon herself, not reacting to anyone

 

“Friends” T’challa starts carefully “Shuri and I went through the security footage as well as through all our defence systems, but there is no breach, nothing that could explain what happened to you.” Karma, says the little voice in the back of his head. “But do not despair, we are still looking. Shuri will work with you individually, there is next to nothing her technology cannot fix, she once fully cured a man with a bullet in his spine, that would make him immobile for the rest of his life” he tries to reassure them.

“What… what about Bucky?” and of course the first thing Steve Rogers thinks of is Barnes, no matter that his team apparently needs him, no matter that he himself can barely breath, his obsession with Barnes precedes everything. T’challa barely holds himself from rolling his eyes.

“Sergeant Barnes is currently being unfrozen, we need to check whether he was affected as well”

“Yes, he never should have been frozen in the first place, I need him on my side!” the little man says, and T’challa does his best not to lash out. They had this discussion million times before, Rogers trying to convince him to wake up Barnes again and again only for the king to refuse. He owes Barnes, not Rogers. He tried to kill an innocent man and offered him the chance to be contained until his sister finds a way how to break his conditioning as a reparation for his actions. He is not planning to let him stay awake too long as they still didn’t not find a permanent solution.

“Sergeant Barnes will be checked within the labs and then returned into the cryo chamber.”

“No! I forbid it! Bring him here!”

The man did not intimidate him when he was full of serum, but now barely 5’5 and thin as a twig, it’s almost laughable. How can this, this yenkomo think he can order him? T’challa owes him nothing, the only one welcomed in Wakanda is and always was Barnes.

“I will not.” he can see the little man puffs up, hands balling into fists “but I will tell him what happened here and if he wants to stay awake and come to you then I won’t prevent it.” That satisfied Steve, he knows that Bucky will run to him at the first mention of danger, especially if he finds out that he is back to being short and wheezy.

 

_2 weeks later_

Two weeks of this torture and nothing changed, Steve is still small and Sam blind etc despite the efforts of wakandan renowned scientists. The only positive is that Bucky upon hearing what happened refused to be frozen again and glued himself to Steve’s side.

They were all holed up in their common room, refusing to split, afraid that whoever hurt them might come again. So they slept there, lived there and were guarding each other’s backs.

The weeks took heavy toll on group, even those who took it in stride at first, Tasha, Clint and Sam, were starting to lose it. Despite T’challa’s promises Shuri was unable to fix their ailments. The moment she fixed Tasha’s spine or Clint vocal chords, blick, and they were destroyed again. She tried and tried different methods and substances, but with no results. It was like a magic. Apropo, Wanda’s magic was gone, no red swirls appeared at her fingers no matter how mad she’ve got. She was mostly sitting in her chair near the window, staring out, none of them knew what actually happened to her that night.  All they knew was that the scream that woke them that fateful night was her waking up from a nightmare. She absolutely refused to talk about it, but she also refused to sleep at all and even if she did fall asleep for a minute or two, she would wake up panicked with tears in her eyes and scream on her lips.

Scott’s ailment was the weirdest. There was nothing wrong with him physically, for him it was all focused on his daughter. As if his parental fear multiplied million times, he could not think of anything else than what could happen to her, from things like falling off of the bike to things like kidnapping, rape or some rare fatal disease. He knew the things were irrational, he called her several times and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her, but he just could not push the thoughts aways. He was acting similarly to Wanda, sitting in a chair near window staring out frozen in fear.

 

A golden sparkling line appears in the middle of the room, making them all jump up, well those who can. Bucky immediately places himself in front of Steve and refuses to bulge despite the sharp pinches and kicks he receives from the little punk.

The line moves, forming itself into a circle, when it is full its middle disappears and they can see through into an old fashioned library full of dark wood and high ceilings, but that was not what catches their attention. No, it is a man, tall and relatively thin, dressed in strange dark blue clothes and a red cape. The cape is flowing behind him even though there is no wind.

“Guys? Guys! What’s happening? I can’t see! What’s going on?!” Sam’s panicked yell interrupts their stunned silence. He cannot see the line, but can somehow feel the tension in his teammates and hear the gentle crackling. No one answers though, truth is no one knows what’s going on or who the man is.

The strange man steps through the circle and it closes behind him like it never existed, while he was looking at them with cold calculating eyes.

“Oh good, you’re all here, how convenient.”

“Wha.. Who said that!” Sam again.

The others can see the newcomer rolling eyes, but he answers nonetheless “My name is of no import Mr. Wilson. I came here to have a look at you and see how well did you take to your lesson.”

“Lesson?!” Steve, currently standing on a sofa so he can see over Bucky’s shoulder, barks. “What kind of lesson?”

“The kind meant for idiots and traitors who think themselves above law. Those who betray their friends and then convince themselves that it was the friend’s fault.” the man’s voice is cold as ice, his hatred towards the group is clear as a day.

Natasha can see Steve open his mouth again, undoubtedly to argue more, but she interrupts.

“So this is how the coward repays us? He can’t use his stupid new laws so he sends you? How much did he pay you?”

Wanda understands the implication immediately “Stark! Of course this is Stark’s fault! I regret the day I did not kill him when I had the chance!” she is more animated now than within the last two weeks together. “Wait till I find him, he will beg me to kill…” her words die out when she feels a hand grabbing her neck, the strange man strangling her with one hand.

A pandemonium erupts in the common room, all members of the Rouge Avengers who can launch themselves at him, trying to pull him off of the girl. The Cloak slips off of his shoulders and does its best to restrain both Barnes and Barton, the others are not much of a threat in the state they are.

The man ignores them all, his focus solely on the girl: “Listen to me you stupid little bitch and listen closely cause I won’t repeat it twice.” his voice is composed with posh pronunciation making the word ‘bitch’ even more of an insult “Stark did not pay me, he doesn't even know I am here. Regardless he is the only reason why are you still alive, I would kill you a long time ago. You are ungrateful, shortsighted bunch of kids, who can’t see behind the tip of their nose. So blinded by their own ego and sense of entitlement that you lost the touch with reality. And your tantrum is endangering us all, most of all Tony Stark. You want to know why I am here? I am here to protect him from his own too good hearth. You can call me his fucking fairy godfather if you want.” with that he conjures ropes that wind around the offenders and force them to sit down. The cloak returns back to his shoulders

“Your punishments are based on your offence towards one Anthony Edward Stark. They will fade away on their own, but only if you see the error of your ways and sincerely regret it. Don’t try to find me, you won’t like what you’ll find.” and with that last threat he conjures another portal and disappears from Wakanda without a trace.

 

_The same day, Sanctum Sanctorum, 177A Bleecker St., New York_

Stephen steps into his library at Sanctorum closing the portal behind himself with a feeling of job well done. He switches his clothes for something more comfortable and ventures out in search of his lover.

He finds him in the kitchen, making what looks like an omelette and a lot of mess. He can’t help himself, just stands there in the doorway for a bit, smiling and admiring the way Tony shakes his ass to the sound of his own off-key whistling. It’s such a difference to a few months ago when he was barely able to walk few steps to the bathroom without an aid. The beating he’s got from Rogers and Barnes together with his age caused a very slow and painful recovery. Bruises and broken bones took weeks if not months to heal even with the few healing spells Stephen was able to find. He set it as his next goal to delve into the healing magic and to learn how to help those that need it, the Ancient One would be able to heal him in matter of seconds and Stephen hated himself for not being able to do the same even if it gave him this.

He smiles a bit, reminiscing of the long days of bickering while Tony was tied to a bed and pestering Stephen with relentless questions about how the magic works. He is convinced, even now that he can explain it with science.

Tony whirls into a spin and his whistling stops when he spots the sorcerer standing in the doorway. “Hey babe, where have you been? You know how I hate waking up alone” he pretends to pout adorably.

Stephen approaches and takes him into his arms “I’m sorry bunny, I hoped to be back before you wake up. An emergency at Kamar-Taj, don’t you worry, just some idiot misplacing a book and they panicked thinking it was stolen” he rolls his eyes, clearly showing what he thinks of it. It is not even a lie, he really was called to Kamar-Taj for that stupidity, he just didn’t go straight home afterwards. He kisses him gently and turns him within the circle of his arms. He can now comfortably rest his chin on his lover’s shoulder. He won’t tell him where he went after leaving Nepal or what he did there, he just doesn’t want to see the shadow, mentioning of the ex-Avengers always brings into Tony’s eyes

“What are you cooking bunny? Is it for me?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know if you deserve it. You lure me into this ancient mancave of yours, make me put out and then disappear in the morning, now you want my breakfast?”

“Oh, did I make you put out? Did I?” he starts to trail a line of kisses down the smaller man’s neck, making him moan “I remember it quite differently…. I can show you but…”

Tony has closed his eyes and is leaning his full body weight against his lover “But what?”

“You’re burning my breakfast.”

 

***

**_Backstory_ **

_Dr. Stephen Strange and Dr. Anthony Stark had much in common (outside of both of them looking like Sherlock Holmes obviously). They were intelligent, wealthy, snarky and both lived in New York so of course they knew each other. Some might even call them friends, they did._

_But then Stephen had the accident and despite many protests closed himself off from those who knew him and disappeared to Nepal._

_Months go by, he becomes the Sorcerer Supreme, finds himself some new friends etc when he hears about the so called ‘Civil War’. He decides to go back and check up on Tony._

_He finds him in Siberia, dying. You see leaving someone lying in a metal suit on an ice cold ground is practically the same as slitting their throat. It will kill them, just slower._

_Luckily Stephen can create a portal and get him help in time. He insist on staying by Tony’s side until he recovers, guilty that he left him before. The recovery takes months and bit by bit they fall in love._

_Stephen makes Tony tell him everything, even if he is not ‘that kind of a doctor’ and devises his plan for revenge._

 

_Each traitor gets their own specially tailored punishment + Stephen’s reasoning why:_

_\- Rogers: there is nothing special about that man, he is a brute who uses the legend created around him and his big muscles to get his own. He relies on it, so Stephen will take it away and leave him as he was always meant to be - an angry little chihuahua._

_\- Barnes: he will do nothing to that man, he suffered enough and in Stephen’s eyes couldn’t be blamed for the murders of Tony’s parents. Even Tony accepts in now, given proper time to grieve and think about it._

_\- The Witch: there is a special place in hell for people like her. He didn’t even have to think about her punishment, he thought about it every night when he saw Tony rolling around locked in a nightmare, when he had to bring him down from a panic attack. He will give her taste of her own medicine and he will take her powers of course. She is unstable and can do more harm than good._

_\- Black Widow: she is smart and ruthless, relying on her beauty and strength to get her what she wants. It was hard for the sorcerer to come up with a proper punishment for her. He figured it out one day when he was watching a video of Avengers fighting and saw how much she relied on her lower body strength. He will take her legs, she won’t be able to fight and a woman, no matter her beauty, on a wheelchair…. Well lets just say the world aint fair._

_\- Falcon: Stephen didn’t know much about Falcon, no one really did. What he knew was that Sam Wilson would blindly follow Captain America without a thought, so he just enabled him to do it more literally and took his sight._

_\- Barton: the little archer really hurt Tony, called him a backstabbing traitor, using his words with the same precision as his beloved arrows, so Stephen made sure he would never do it again. FRIDAY can take care of any written communication, so he will take care of his big mouth, he damaged his vocal cords beyond repair._

_-Ant-man: from what Tony told him, he doesn’t even know who the Ant-man is. Just some random guy Steve pulled from somewhere. Stephen is tempted to almost let him go when he meets Peter. Sweet, bubbly Peter who is more than glad to tell him how the little And-man turned into a giant and smashed him painfully against the ground, all told with his charming, childish glee and Stephen knows that the Ant-man needs to be taught a lesson as well. He finds out that Ant-man, well Scott Lang has an adorable daughter. He would never hurt a child, but she is a good way how to punish him. He gets into his head and makes him imagine all the bad things that could happen to her, all day long 24/7. And just to be sure, he puts a magical tracker on the child so in case she is really in trouble he can sense it and help, the girl really is cute._


End file.
